The Wakatipu Electorate.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 126, 21 April 1896, Page 2

The Wakatipu Electorate.

MR W. FRASER, M.H.R., AT WAIKAIA. (By Our Special Reportoi). Tha Wuikaia Public Hall was comfortably filled last night by the freo and independent electors in that part of tha electorate, on tha occasion of Mr W. Frnser's giving an account of his past sfasion'a stnwurdahip. Mr Colin Robertson, J.P., having been voted to the chair, and introduced the speaker by remarking that for five years past it had fallen to his lot to preside at political meetinr/s held in the place, Mr Frassr, on rising, was received with outward demonstrations of welcome. Ho intimated that nothing would please him better than that, at the close of hia remarks, the electors present asked him any questions upon points which ho had not made sufficiently cloar to them. He would be glad if bo wero catechised upon his past actions ; it was no satisfaction for him to havo things said behind his back when he had r.o opportunity for reply. He had not intended speaking at Waikaia at such an early date, but he heard it was the Premier's intention to convene Parliament somewhat earlier than than waa exp-rcted. Ho (rha speaker) had boen travelling for the past fortnight, speaking every day, and it would be another week btfore ho got through his electorate. No better object lesson was Loaded to show the absurdity of the manner in which his district had beon constructed. Mr Fraser had on the platform beside him a blacKobard, on which, he explained, he would place certain figures that he would ask tbtm to study well so as to appreciate Ihair tifjnifieaoco. The first matter he would refer to did not require the blackboard. This was the question of SURPLUSES GENERALLY. Some people hid boen unkind enough to dou-t the existence of a surplus — they wore wicked enough to doubt everything done bytha Liberal Government — (Liughter) — and said thvt the surplus existed only on paper. Ha did not go so far as that : he admitted there was a surplus of receipts over expenditure, but WHERE DID IT COSIE FROM? Tho Premier hid taken the colony into bis confidence at Nelson, tbo other day, when he stated the surplus for the year would be L 150.000 There was a good dual tf scepticism anent these surpluses, and he thought an explanation as to whit they were and whence they came would not be out of place. For the past four years the surpluses were as follows : — 1803 £165,573 181)3 .. .. „ 283,780 1804 .. .. .. 290,238 1595 .. .. .. 180,021 Or a total o£ .. £919,615 If they would bear in mind the 1895 surplus (^£180,021) he would from it illustrate how all surpluses were obtained. He might say at onco that theae surpluses did exist, but they had been told that they came from revenue, and that the expenditure on public works camn from the saipo source, and this was not ■o. To show thi?, the speaker gave the published totals for the last four years of revenue p oper— Ordinary and Territorial— and disbursement*. Tho tota's were : — Permanontanaanuualappropria'lons .. £16,999,U2 ltcve-juo .. .. .. „ 16,9-48,853 leaving a debit balance of.. .'. £50,289 For the same four years tho receipts in aid of the Ravenua Account (being borrowed money) were : — Sinking Funds released.. .. .. £1083,375 Debentures issued .. .. „ 1,248,816 Balance iv hand from April, 1892 .. 143,906 Making a total of .. .. .. £2.470,187 On the other side, for expenditure, not departmental, they found these items : — Loans pni Vott .. .. .. .. £1,210,601 Paid into Public Works Fund .. .. 990,238 Jinking a total of .. .. .. £2,245,874 Deducting this amount from the receipts, they got a balance of .£230,313; 'and taking from this last sum tho deficit on ordinary revenue which he had previously referred to (■£50,289), thoro remained a balance of £180,024, or tho amount of the surplus rf ISOS exactly. It was thus patent at a glance i hit tha SUKPLUSeS CAME FROM BORROWED MONEY. What, then, became of the oft-repeat9d Ministerial statements that the public works of tha colony had been carried on out of revenue, and that tho Governmant was a nou-borrowing ono. They had been doing nothing of tha kind ; and were usingborrowed money all the time. He did not blame the Government for having used tho.lo surpluses ; they were only doing whs*, their predecessors hart dono, and what thei^T ccessors must do undur the present syttefi^ but he blamed them for their want of franknsss, in vaunting that they wars constructing public works out of these surpluses. It was bad enough to <lv all this here surely, but Mr Ward at Home, in tha course of an address, bad said we were constructing L2OO 000 to L 250.000 worth of public works out cf revenue, and that we were relying upon our own resources. It was a poor tbing to boast of at the time when the Government wars eating up the savings of the past. Mr Ward had also told thorn at Home tliii he predicted the surplus tc be L 360.000, and that he had just received a. cable announcing the surplus to be L 450.000 ! Tbn actual surplus in the showing of his own Budget was L 180.024. Mr Ward's figures given in London were obtained by adding the former surplus to the approximate surplus of L 200.000 for 1893. He (Mr Ward) admitted it was an arguable point whether the surplus carried forward from the previous year should bo added to that ef the following year, but said it was a common practice in Now Zealand, nnd adopted by business men ! What an audacious statemont to make — (Applause). A business man was quite entitled to add tho surplus cf former years to that of his present year, if there was any, but how could this be dono if the surplus was all spent ? This was our position in regard to our surpluses of former years. While on tho subject, there was another matter to which he would briefly refer, viz., the SEIZUR"': OF SINKING FUNDS. Not satisfied with usißg the Sinking Funds on loans raised at Horn", the Government had also annexed the Sinking funds accruing on Loans to Loc^l Bodies. It was never intended that these moneys should be used for such a purpose, but the Premier maintiiti3cl that it was right to do so. Explainins the position, the epeaker said that in 1892, the government of which tha late John Billance was head had passed a measure which provided for an appropria? tion of 1 per cent, from the Consolidated Revenue and 4 percent, from the Land Assurance Account The total of these funds was .£85,000. Mr B illance had no intention of the money being' diverted to its present purpose. Referring to Mr Ward's assartions at Wintou, in which ha stated that this iCSS,OOO was intact, tho speaker said that could not be, as debentures had boen issued against the whole sum, and the money spent. The TREASURER WA3 rLAYING WITH WORDS, as the colony had no further interest in these Sinking Funds. He would tall them why the Sinking Funds had been seized. The elections were coming on, and the Government would strain every nerve to make the surplus look as big as possible. In addition to the Sinking Funds, the Govern-, ment had expended L7lB 000 which was at the credit of the Public Works Fund when they took office. As he had said before, he did not blame tho Government for spending borrowed money, but they should be candid and acknowledge so doing. Mr Fraser explained in a concise manner the mode of loin conversions, after which the late BANKING LEGISLATION was referred to at considerable length. After detailing the incidents of the paasaga of tha first bill guaranteeing ,£2,000,000 to the Bank ofNewZ9aland, which theGoveromentassured tho House would be sufficient to place it on a firm foundation, he proceeded to give tha effect of the conclusion arrived at by the Select Committee (of which ho was a member) set up to enquire into the bank's position. The " Bapk of Maw Banking Act 1895 " MMrf'N outcome of this report. The bank'Tconneotlon' with tha Estates 00. was sapping its credit and bleed, ing it to death. The L 2,000,000 State guar. antee was in peril, and if further assistance wore not forthcoming this sum would have haen lost. If the bank'had been allowed to close its doors all accounts would have had to be liquidated and all the properties of the Estates Co. realised upon before the colony could have recovered one shilling of tha guarantee, and after this were done LBO,OOO evory year in intarost would have to have been paid on the L 2,000,000 guarantee by tha colony, bosidns losing a great portion of this capital. Tha first duty of the committee was to consider means for avoiding such a loss, and he took leave to think that there was more than a reasonable prospect of sucoes3 in that direction. The purport of the Banking Act, 1895, was outlined by Mr Fra«er. Its principal effect, ha said, would ba that the colony should take up fully piid up preference shares, to the value of ,£500,000, to be paid for by colonial debentures bearine 3J par cent, interest, and the sura of .£500,000 to be called up from the shareholder?, making a capital of a million. The Estates Cimprty's properties were handed over to the Assets Realisation Board. The book valua of these properties was put down, at .£2,731,000., in ' oxobange for which the Board gives debentures, bearing 3J per' cent interest. The Bank were to pay .£.50,000 to the Board

annually out of the fit ßt p-ofi-s, *f or payinj interest on the £2,000,000, and 3* per cant on preferential Bhares. If tho properties did not realiso .£2,731,000, the colony were tc make up the deficit. The speaker considered that it had baen a wise proceeding to separate the Estate Company's properties from the Bank, as tho Bink 'a turds wore lmbla to be used to make up any deficiency m the profit and loss account of tho Estates Company. This had always been a aoiircs of °*?R er *° the depositors of the Bank. He had examined many of the properties hew by the Esalisation Board, and be was firmly convinced that the colony would not lo*> by tha guarantee given to the Board s debentures. It would, of course, take some years for tho ' Board to sell off these properties, which they intended to do gradually, and to tha best advantage. What sum the properties or the Assets Board would realise must necessarily be a matter for conjecture. It might be said, however, what; about tha .£•2,500,000? His reply was that in 1894 42,000,000 was advanced to an institution on the veree of bankrn ptcy ;in 189 ato s a vo th it £2,000,000, £500,000 more was. put into a reconstituted institution, whicb.undsr careful management, should build up again a sound and lucrative business. The Bank was KOW FREE FHOM DEBT, had ample capital, and ha would let bis hearers judge for themselves which was the wisest course to follow— to have let the Bink drop in 1895, or to do what the committee had dnnr. Tho speaker said no bad done whit he b*>« -thought was in the best interests of tha^olony. He then dealt with the SchroecTe'r debenture", also the Auckland Agricultural Company's deb-nturoa, amounting in the agpreeate to 1/1,789,000, and commended the efforts of the Bank to wipe them out. This sum was all that the Birk owed at Hoiw>, and negotiations were entered into since 1891 for paying off the balance L 1.539,000, and by June next all the shroeder debentures would be redeemed, and the only creditors the Bink would havo would be in the colony. — (Applause). That did not mean that tuo Bink will have extinguished that liability, but that it will hiva used L 1,539,000 of the L 2,500,000 advanced by the colony. This meant a larpe saving in interest. As ft member of tha Board he had done tho best he could, first for the interest of the colony generally, and then for tho interests rf the shareholders.— (App'auso) Wild ai:d recklesi statements hal boon made regarding the- Bank and, it bad been said that the Treasurer of the day would have tho right pf interfering in the private affurs cf the Bink, and that it was now virtually a State Bank. la regard to the first he could say thit the Treasurer had no right whatever to interfore. The auditor could if ho thought the bank was pursuing a dangerous policy, report to the Tresurer through the prfsident, whereupon tho Treasurer could instruct tbe president to veto Slid policy. The Treasurer of his own motion could, however, not interfere in any way. It was an absurd idea to say that it was a Stato Bick, as three cf t!:o directors woro elected by tbe shareholder?, atd tbe president and one director by tho Government. The Bank's bad debts had beo:i wiped out, and it must go on. It would not aimo to Parliament sgain for assistance : it was credit they wante I, ar.d tbe Board bad done its best to build this up. He prodicted th-it before the nine years expired, tbe public ""would bo gla<! to redeem the 1i500,000 cf preference shares— (applause) — 5 per cent, was not so easily got nowadays. Mr Fraser here intimated that as tho hour was late he would not detain his audience further unless they wished i*, but that ha would bs only too glad if ihoy wou'dask him any questions. Mr Sproat siid there had been too nuny " ifs "in Mr Frasei 'a speech. One side in the House said the other sido was wrong, and the other side said the same thing cf them. He would liko to know if there was any record k-pt in the House of the number of liars there were there.— (Laughter). Mr Sproat explained that he was not referring to Mr Frasor, but to thosa members who continually condemned the statements of others without bringing any proofs in support of their arguments. Mr Fraser said he had not given a single figure — excepting the Schroeder debentures — which could not be found in tbe Banking Act of 1895 and the report of the committee. He could vouch for the figure?, but as for his deductions from them timo alone would prove whether they would work out. Mr Brown asked whether it increased or decreased the revenue to send a man to tho Lunatic Asylum who was not harming anyone and was paying his way. Mr Fraser : A man who is sent to an Asylum is not always the best judge as to whether he should be there or not. Mr Whittinghim sail,. Mr Fraser had not outlined any policy for next session. Mr Fraser taid tbis^ra'' rathor a largo order. Ha presumed "Mr Whittinghara desired information on tha measures promised for next session. The Premier had foreshadowed some of them. One was a proposal on tbe pirt of tho Government to take up STATE FIRE INSURANCE. They said, We havo Sate L : fe Insurance offices, staff-, etc, and what was there to prevent Fire Insurance baing taken up ? He Bhould say there was a good deal. In the first place, a man did not generally commit suicide to benefit those who might come after him, whereas we had instances of men setting fire to houses and stacks to obtain (he insurance. Them again they would require fire experts to examine claims, etc., and hid not got those— they must bo bred to tha business— life insurance c!e:ks could not do it. In nearly eveiy large fire tho risk was held by a number of offices, and if the Government started with the idea of monopolising the business, they might bo made bankrupt by one large fire. Again. State Fire Insurance would ba confined to the colony, whereas the private companies did business all over the world, and made it pay, Ha did not favor State interference with private enterprise. Tho ins.uance companies raising ths rates had been the causa of the State Fire Insurance scheme, but ha thought a number of the companies were seeing the folly of their action and would revert to tho old order of things. " LABOR LEGISLATION. The Premier had talked of the labor bills. How much had tha laborers been benefited by this Bort of legislation ? Some of it was good, but an avowed intention of flooding the country with labor bills had frightened away capital. The Opposition had said this from the first, and wera lau°hed at, but it was being realised now, Work was harder to get than ever. Labor legislation was not entirely to blaraa for this possibly, but it had helped considerably. The labor legislation which piotected a man within his just rights would always have his (Mr Fraser't) support — (applausi)— hut not a lot of RUBBISHY CLAP TRIP, which had higb-aounding titles, brought on by those who called themselves Liberals, and called everybody else of different opinions TORIES AND CONSERVATIVES. Those who thought as Mr Soddon thought only were Liberals according to them. He (the speaker) might say that true Liberalism was a principle and not an individual. Tbe Government brought down a lot of l^bor bills session after session, but did not care if they never passed so loug as they caujjht a few votes.— (Applausfl, Mr Hamer asked if tha member did not think the Land Board should adrainist'r the Education Endowments instead of tho Commissioners ? Mr Fraser said ho had expressed an opinion on this matter several times before. He did not favor handing tbo administration over to tbe Land Board, but would desire to see tho endowments administrated by the Commissioners in conformity with tho Land Act. If tho Land Board got control of them, tho endowments would be open to political influence, and would bjcomo the property of the whole colony, and the trust would ba destroyed. Ho would not favor any steps baing taken that would endanger that trust. Mr Hamer asked if it would not be better to let those endowments go, seeing that thoy - were not for primary education, and only the rich people got tho benefit of them. Mr Fraser: Statistics are all againßt you Five-sixths of those who attend hijh schools are not children oE^tbe rich classes The statement such as BlPfcimer bad made, bad been brought forward as .an argument time after time, but was quite fallacious. Mr Sproat asked whether rabbit inspectors were appointed through merit, influence, or ' long experience in trapping?— (Laughtei). Mr Fraser confessed to ignorance as to the inner workings of the Stock Department, but said he presumed Inspectors were appointed through merit. The Chairman asked what direct benefit did OtagO ar.d Southland dorive from the Education Endowments, seeing that the whole of the revenue received therefrom was paid into tbe Consolidated Kovor.uo ? (2) Did the member not think it would be a good thing if the High Schools id the towns were done away with, acd in their place a Bcheme substituted whereby for every school having an average attendance of over 100 scholars an extra teacher would be appointed to teach ail tbe subjects at pr'osont taught in the High Schools ?—( Applause.) . Mr Fraser said he would answer the last question first. The project would have his support, a"s it would bring higher education wfthin tbe reach of those who most deserved it, viz.; tbe country people who produced the wealth. Regarding the first question, it was true that no benefit was derived from these endowments at present, but the education system of the colony was increasing year by year, until finally he believed the day would come that would bring taxation for educational purposes. In that day the va|ue of education endowments would be appreciated,

g | because tbe taxation would be lessened by t. the value of these endowments. ri Mr Spto t a k & if Mr Fraser had for--0 ! gotten the Waikaia Switzars railway. 1 Mr Fraser said he hid not. He had told a them last year that it wjs <ot possible to got a anything for tho work until money for come pleting unfinished lines was available. When t this money was to be had, they would find ■. he would be there.— (Applause). a Mr H-imer asked whether Mr Fraser 1 thought the Education Endowments should d not bo disposed of by b;liot in preference to - auction. 3 Mr Fraser fully described the operation of the two systems. In the case of an auction a 3 man often bought without any sense of re- ; sponsibi'i'y, and was too apt to bid too much - to get b»ld of a pieci of Government land, 3 feeling sure that the Givernnient would uot - push him for his rent if ho could cot pay. t With the ballot it was very seldom tbe man that made the best lisa of the land got it. I In patts of Australia Ihe Guvernment i saleote.l the applicants for land, but that was b a ticklish tbiug to do, as it lail a Governt raont open to tho charge of favoritism. It 1 was very hird to devise a satisfactory system I at all. Questions on old age pansionp, compersation, etc., were answered by Mr Frasor to the satixfaction of the electors, and in reply i to Mr Wbittinaham as to whether ho rlid not i think it would be beneficial if m >mbers of : Parliament in tho House recorded their i votes by ballot, ho slid he must admit that i with tbe present House, if tho ballot mode of ; voting had becrr in vogue, the session would have had very diff-rtnt rtsult*, but he hoped future Parliaments would net bs tho same as the present one. If men went up to thn Houßa determined to vote according to thsir consciences, tbey need nover be afraid to rccoi d their vile openly, but if they had men who wore p!e<!g"d to individuals, then tho ballot vote would be usefu'. A number of other questions were put to the member and answered by him. THANKS. Mr Sproat moved, Mr Davidson seconding, a vota of thalis to Mr Frasor for his address. As an amsndmenr, Mr Robson moved a vote of thanks and to'ifidence in Mr Fraser ai their member. — Th'S was seconded by Mr Handyside, and carried by an overwhelming majority. In returning thanks, Mr Fr.iser mentioned his regret at finding the commonage question not being satisfactorily settled. The blame did not rest with him ; he had put the matter in train some time ago, and only learcod that night that the authorities in Invsrcargill had not come to an understanding on tha matter with the Wardens at Waikaia. It was subsequently arranged to further discuss the matter the following diy, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chair.